10 Best Musicals of All Time

Many musicals have warmed hearts and sold-out countless amounts of crowds with their whimsical lyrics and amazing story lines. Here are 10 of the best musicals of all time.

The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. It is considered by many to be the most successful musical of all time and is also the longest running show in Broadway history.

The Phantom of the Opera opened in the West End in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Michael Crawford won the 1986 Olivier and 1988 Tony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical. It is the longest-running Broadway show by a wide margin (celebrating its 10,000th performance on Broadway on February 11, 2012), the second longest-running West End musical, and the third longest-running West End show overall.

With total worldwide box office receipts of over $5.1 billion including a record-setting Broadway gross of US $845 million,Phantom is the highest-grossing entertainment event of all time and the most financially successful theatrical show in history. It's been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities in 27 countries by 2011, the most successful entertainment project in history.